{"id":11514,"date":"2024-01-16T11:17:10","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T11:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/?p=11514"},"modified":"2024-01-17T20:57:49","modified_gmt":"2024-01-17T20:57:49","slug":"somalia-threatens-conflict-with-ethiopia-over-breakaway-region","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/16\/somalia-threatens-conflict-with-ethiopia-over-breakaway-region\/","title":{"rendered":"Somalia Threatens Conflict With Ethiopia Over Breakaway Region"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agencies – Sudan Events<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSomaliland hoped to be recognised as a country after port deal with landlocked Ethiopia – but move has sparked fury in Somalia\u201d
\nSomalia is prepared to go to war to stop Ethiopia recognising the breakaway territory of Somaliland and building a port there, a senior adviser to Somalia\u2019s president has said.
\nA memorandum of understanding signed on 1 January allowing landlocked Ethiopia to develop a naval base on Somaliland\u2019s coast has rattled the Horn of Africa, one of the world\u2019s most volatile regions.
\nSomalia claims Somaliland as part of its territory and has declared the deal void. Last Sunday its president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, called on Somalis to \u201cprepare for the defence of our homeland\u201d, while rallies have been held in Mogadishu, Somalia\u2019s capital, against the agreement.
\n\u201cWe are pursuing all diplomatic options and I think Ethiopia will come to its senses, but we are ready for a war if Abiy wants a war,\u201d said the adviser, referring to the Ethiopian prime minister, Abiy Ahmed.
\nEthiopia and Somalia fought a conflict in 1977-78 over a disputed region and tensions still run deep. Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006 to dislodge Islamists from Mogadishu, helping to spark the Al-Shabaab insurgency, and today it is one of the largest contributors of troops in the African Union peacekeeping force in Somalia.
\nThe adviser said the port deal \u201ccaught Somalia by surprise\u201d. He claimed Abiy had denied intending to seek sea access through Somaliland when questioned by Mohamud at a summit in Saudi Arabia in November.
\nSomaliland was a British colony until 1960. The territory enjoyed five days of independence before voluntarily uniting with Somalia, a former Italian colony. It was a bumpy union that ended with Somaliland breaking away in 1991, after a decade-long liberation struggle against a Soviet-backed military regime. Today, Somaliland is a de facto independent state, with its own currency, a parliament and overseas diplomatic missions.
\nFor two decades, Somalia has been blighted by Al-Shabaab, a powerful affiliate of Al-Qaida, making it one of the world\u2019s most dangerous countries. By contrast, Somaliland is relatively peaceful, even if recent clashes on its eastern frontier with Somalia have dented its stable image.
\nHowever, it is still not recognised by any country. Western governments will not recognise it until African countries do, but the continent\u2019s leaders have held off, following the African Union\u2019s longstanding policy against redrawing national boundaries inherited from colonialists.
\nWithout recognition, Somaliland struggles to attract investment and is cut off from international finance, which is mostly channelled through Mogadishu. In an interview with the Observer, Somaliland\u2019s foreign minister, Essa Kayd, said the port deal with Ethiopia will \u201clegitimise our self-determination\u201d and could spark a \u201cdomino effect\u201d of other countries recognising the territory.
\n\u201cRecognition is what we have been fighting for all this time and it is the most important thing we can offer to the people of Somaliland,\u201d Kayd said.
\nHowever, there is confusion over the content of the deal between Somaliland and Ethiopia. Neither side has made the full text public.
\nWhen it was struck, Somaliland\u2019s president, Muse Bihi Abdi, said Ethiopia had agreed to grant official recognition in return for a 50-year lease of a stretch of coastline, which it will develop for \u201cnaval and commercial\u201d purposes. However, Ethiopia said it had only agreed to \u201cmake an in-depth assessment towards taking a position regarding the efforts of Somaliland to gain recognition\u201d.
\nA western diplomat briefed on the deal described it as a \u201cmemorandum of misunderstanding\u201d. \u201cEthiopia insists they did not agree to recognise Somaliland,\u201d the diplomat said.
\nKayd said the deal is based on Ethiopia granting recognition to Somaliland: \u201cWithout that, nothing is going to happen.\u201d He added that discussions had been progressing \u201cfor years\u201d. \u201cEthiopia needs sea access and we need recognition, so you can see how these needs can be dealt with.\u201d
\nEthiopia became the world\u2019s largest landlocked country in 1993 when Eritrea seceded along with its Red Sea coastline. In October, Abiy said this was a historic mistake that threatens Ethiopia\u2019s existence, sparking fears of a war with Eritrea. \u201cIn 2030 we are projected to have a population of 150 million,\u201d Abiy said. \u201c150 million people can\u2019t live in a geographic prison.\u201d
\nOn Thursday, Abiye\u2019s adviser drew parallels between Ethiopia\u2019s quest for sea access and its construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a potentially transformational hydro\u00adelectric project on the Blue Nile, which was built despite objections and military threats from Egypt.
\nSomalia is unlikely to attack Ethiopia while it grapples with Al-Shabaab, said Alan Boswell, Horn of Africa director at the International Crisis Group. But the deal could open fresh fissures in a turbulent region.
\nMohamud visited Eritrea last week and is preparing to travel to Egypt. The countries are Ethiopia\u2019s main regional rivals and have both expressed support for Somalia in the wake of the port deal. \u201cAbiy sees this as a legacy issue,\u201d said Boswell. \u201cIf this deal with Somaliland falls through, Ethiopia will try to find a port somewhere else, so this is going to shape regional dynamics for years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agencies – Sudan Events \u201cSomaliland hoped to be recognised as a country after port deal with landlocked Ethiopia – but move has sparked fury in Somalia\u201d Somalia is prepared to go to war to stop Ethiopia recognising the breakaway territory of Somaliland and building a port there, a senior adviser to Somalia\u2019s president has said. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11514","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-society-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11514"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11516,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11514\/revisions\/11516"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11514"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11514"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sudanevents.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11514"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}